Archive for October, 2008

As you already know, the first RTV virtual tour company blog was established in February 2007 as way for our providers to communicate with their local markets. Since then, our virtual tour company website and blog have grown to attract over 30,000 visitors every month.

Now just a year and a half later we are excited to be releasing the OFFICIAL virtual tour blog located at www.virtual-tour-blog.com. The original blog will remain at its current location and will be converted to a virtual tour blog archive.

Full instructions for how to submit a blog are available from the provider menu after you log in to the new blog!

What does this mean to our providers?

providers can now create their own account and submit blogs right through the blog interface! providers can go there now and setup their account!

provider blogs will be even MORE search engine friendly than ever before and will help provider websites get visited more often by potential customers that are already looking for their services!

If you want to be one of the first providers to reap the benefits of our NEW SEO optimized blog, then visit the OFFICIAL virtual tour blog, log in now and get your blog submitted through the NEW blog interface!

Some of the older generation of real estate sales associates might recall a simpler, gentler time when the selling of a house required only a for sale sign outside and a quick hand when answering the phone. Those days are now long gone. Keeping up with modern day competition keeps every real estate associate in a never ending race to stay ahead of the competition. The new name of the game is offering a new and cutting edge technology to the customers of today in order win their business and stay a step ahead of the competition. The combined use of traditional marketing and virtual tours has now become the ‘norm’. Many real estate sales associates market the virtual tour to the buyer by posting a local ad in the newspaper and including the URL of the virtual tour in the ad. When users visit the virtual tour web site, they can take their time examining all the available tours on the realtor’s web site. This cross promotion of local real estate is a simple and easy way to draw attention to the real estate agent or broker’s web based virtual tour from the buyer. BUT, what about the marketing of the virtual tour to the home seller? With home sellers, many simply are unaware of the existence of virtual tours, or are sometimes not aware of the effectiveness of them. Presenting the virtual tour to the home seller is a completely different process, as it is sometimes difficult to convince some seller to allow a virtual tour of the property. The reasons for the seller’s reluctance are varied and range from reluctance to present photos of the interior of their home to strangers, to not wanting to deal with the hassle of filming the virtual tour. It is essential for the real estate sales associate to convey the importance of the virtual tour to the seller and the similarities between preparing for a traditional ‘open house’ and an online ‘open house’. It is also important to stress the overall advantages of the online ‘open house’ via a virtual tour. When the virtual tour is added to the traditional media advertising and marketing effort, the results improve dramatically, as buyers appreciate having the ability to remotely view potential homes before buying them; identifying worldwide interested buyers who actually intend visit the physical property. This is of course, the entire purpose of the virtual tour, to encourage visitors to travel to the physical property in hopes of selling the home and land or other real property to the interested party. Relating the importance of the virtual tour to the prospective sellers is a vital part of the real estate sales associate’s overall effort to sell homes and real estate. Selecting some of the best virtual tours you can find and presenting it to the seller to view an online virtual tour gallery or via some other format, such as a CD, can help to quell the home seller’s objectives in using a virtual tour in the selling process. A professionally produced virtual tour increases the perceived quality of the home. Virtual tours do an outstanding job of conveying the general ambiance of the home or real estate in general. This method of presenting a well produced and easy to understand virtual tour for the prospective buyer to peruse is a powerful marketing tool. Marketing the virtual tour to home sellers may be somewhat more difficult than dealing with buyers nevertheless; it is a vital marketing tool and should be routinely implemented in the seller’s overall strategy.

RTV is excited to announce that it now offers Nationwide Professional Photography Services! With this new service, companies that need high quality high resolution still photography can contract with us to handle all their photography needs for them.

It will allow them to streamline their photography, minimize their administrative duties and give them a consistency they wouldn’t have if they used multiple vendors at multiple sites.

With our vast network of Professional Photographers we can guarantee national photography service coverage, even in the smallest of towns.

Working with our network of photographers across the nation, I’ve come to see how wonderfully talented they are. I’ve sent a photographer out to shoot a virtual tour of a ranch and received not only the virtual tour, but also a whole host of stills shot from expert angles and expansive shots taken from the roof. These photographs are not “snap shots”, they were high resolution, high quality well shot photographs worthy of magazine covers.

So when I had an inquiry from a national company looking for high quality still photography only, I didn’t hesitate to say we could do it. Seeing the amazing shots I get every day I had no qualms telling them that we certainly were able to provide them what they needed. My work with this client opened my eyes to the lack of National Professional Photography Services available today.

With that in mind, RTV decided to step forward and take the initiative in establishing a high quality, reliable national virtual tour network that will provide consumers with a single point for ordering commercial photography for sites located across the nation.

To showcase the wonderful work our photographers do for us we created a gallery of some of their work. Below is a slideshow that is just a sampling of the excellent photos I get in every day.

Most all of us have heard of, if not felt outright, about the tightening of the economy. In fact, unless you have been on the top of Mt McKinley for the last six months without a cell phone it would have been impossible to miss it.

As a Realtor just breaking into the virtual tour market I understand probably better than most the fears and the opportunities in our market. Brokers are sitting on houses for longer that they have for a very long time. Many are scared to death about what the future holds. All of us try to focus on the good news and not the bad, but there are times that the bad speaks so loudly that it is difficult to ignore.

That being said, the active Realtor out there needs as many tools at his or her disposal as possible. Hence the virtual tour, front and center. It is something that can be offered to Sellers as an added bonus to the services already being provided and can also be used to decrease the risks that accompany selling a house.

Seller’s often want their agents to hold open houses. Open Houses can be a dangerous activity. Realtors can find themselves in compromising positions because the guests of the Open House cannot be controlled. When the traffic is slow an agent’s safety could be compromised and there is no record of the visitors.

There are also liabilities to the Seller. An open house could be seen as a personal invite to thieves. Medicine cabinets are often ruffled through during the open house along with dresser drawers, jewelry boxes, etc. because the agent can’t watch every one in every room.

The virtual tour can end the Seller’s desire for an Open House while providing potential Buyers with their own walk through in the privacy of their own home. While virtual tours show a lot of detail, it isn’t as specific as an in person visit. The public gets to see only what the photographer and Realtor choose to show.

Next time an agent or a Seller says no remind them of the value of the virtual tour.

In this day and age we all get accustomed to sending e-mails and playing phone tag with a myriad of people. We no longer feel the need to see the client in person. After all, I can receive my clients’ question and answer it in less time than it once took to establish a place to meet and talk it over. But at what cost? Is speed of communication better than a concise message with a direct focus on your customers needs?

E-mails are one dimensional; all you receive are the words. Phone calls are two dimensional; now you have the words and maybe a little emotion. Meeting your client in person provides you with a three dimensional communication. You receive the words, you can hear the emotion and most importantly, you can see your clients’ body language.

Body language and facial expressions are key to understanding your clients. Many shoppers, your potential clients, would choose to reject your proposal over offering you any objections or explaining and justifying their decision. They just want to move on to someone who meets their needs. But, if you are aware of your customers’ body language, you will receive cues to the areas of your service that are of interest and the areas that provide an air of trouble.

I feel this level of communication is vital to the success of any business. In fact, vital to every aspect of our human interaction. Just imagine trying to sustain a relationship with your family members with only e-mails. Our business clients are truly an extension of our friends and family. Without either of their support our virtual tour company would not be possible.

So the next time you need to contact a client, consider visiting them in person. I’m sure the long term benefits will greatly outweigh the time spent.